John Merrett

 

State of Florida v. Jesse Prince

In May of 2001, Jesse Price stood trial in Clearwater, Florida for possession of a marijauna plant. Jesse could have accepted a plea bargain and paid a small fine but he decided to fight the charge to uncover Scientology's involvement in the case.

 

 

The trial was expensive and in some ways embarrasing but ultimately we were able to show just how far Scientology will go to attempt to destroy it's critics.

Several of Scientology's Private Investigators were forced to take the stand and testify. One of them, Brian Raftery, testified that he is paid $187,000 a year for following members of the LMT.

Furthermore, Scientology admitted to the press that they set out to damage Jesse's reputation through these investigators so they could undermine Jesse's testimony in the Lisa McPherson wrongful death civil suit. This is a very serious example of witness tampering.

Ultimately, Scientology's effort backfired as the local media condemned them for the set-up.

Judge Michael F. Andrews presided over the trial and allowed me to record the audio of the proceedings.


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